. . . and California’s Jerry Brown is the first. So declares Hans Bader in the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s new report, appropriately titled “The Nation’s Worst State Attorneys General.” Here’s the summary of the top stinkers:

Although these abuses are widespread, some attorneys general are worse than others. The greatest harms inflicted by overreaching state AGs include encroachment on the powers of other branches of government, meddling in the affairs of other states or federal agencies, encouragement of judicial activism and frivolous lawsuits, favoritism towards campaign contributors, ethical breaches, and failure to defend state laws or state agencies being sued. Taking these criteria into account, the following state attorneys general have earned their spot on this year’s list of the nation’s worst attorneys general: 1. Jerry Brown, California 2. Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut 3. Drew Edmondson, Oklahoma 4. Patrick Lynch, Rhode Island 5. Darrell McGraw, West Virginia 6. William Sorrell, Vermont

On Blumenthal, who is running for the U.S. Senate to replace the retiring Democrat, Chris Dodd, Bader says the “left-wing ideologue…has used the power of his office to spread largesse to cronies [and] was rated the nation’s worst attorney general in our January 2007 ratings.” Why the drop to the number-two spot? “Blumenthal has not gotten any better since then, but the competition for worst AG seems to have gotten fiercer.” There’s plenty more in the report on the Vietnam War vet who forgot he didn’t actually serve there: For example, on tobacco, Bader reports in detail why “Blumenthal, more than anybody else, is responsible for the multi-state act of corruption and cartelism known as the Master Settlement Agreement.” One wonders what Blumenthal’s campaign foes, Rob Simmons and Linda McMahon, will make of this.